Tethering – in case you aren’t familiar with the term – means being able to use your Android phone like a wireless models, usually for another Wi-Fi only device like a tablet.
This gives you internet access on the go, regardless of your location. However, you’ll usually have to go through a few steps to set up the connection. But not anymore, if you are a Pixel or (recent) Nexus owner.
The Instant Tethering feature is currently rolling out for owners of the phones in question. To get things going, users need to turn on the feat by accessing Settings > Google > Instant Tethering on their phone. By tapping the “Provide data connection” you’ll be able to initiate the host device, while “Get data connection” gets the receiving device ready. Don’t forget to have Bluetooth and Wi-Fi on.
There are a few requirements to consider – the device providing the Internet connection need to be a Pixel, Pixel XL, Nexus 6, Nexus 5X or Nexus 6P running Android 7.1.1 or later. As for the receiving devices, they include all the above phones plus the Nexus 9 and Pixel C tablets. Also they need to run Android 6.0 Marshmallow or later.
Note that both devices need to be signed up into the same Google account, for the setup to actually work. Since tethering will most likely drain battery life, the connection will automatically disconnect after 10 minutes of inactivity.
Surely it’s nothing you can do manually, but the new feature adds the convince of making the connection happen almost automatically.
At the moment, it’s unclear whether more devices (Google or not) will be getting the feature or not in the near future, but we’ll let you know in case this happens.
Vernee is one of the more obscure Andorid OEMs, but the company is trying to emerge from the shadows. A while back we presented you with the Vernee Apollo, which seems like a pretty decent OnePlus 3T alternative – selling at half the price.
Current Verne Apollo
Well as it turns out Vernee is going to be presented at MWC 2017 with a few new products that might be worthy of your attention. For starters, the device maker plans to debut the Apollo 2 – which will be launched as the world’s frist Helio X30 smartphone.
Announced back in September, the Helio X30 is a 10 core big.LITTLE chip with 2.8GHz A73 cores, four 2.2GHz A53 cores and four 2GHz A35 cores on TSMC’s 10m FinFET+process. The new chipset is expected to bring higher energy efficiency, greatly improved compared to its predecessors and advanced computing power (similar what the Snpadragon 820/821 offer).
Apart from sporting a powerful processor, the Apollo 2 is also expected to come bundling 8GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage. This means the Vernee Apollo 2 will be the second phone to be launched with such advanced RAM capacity. ASUS’ ZenFone AR which was introduced back at CES 2017 was the first one to come boasting 8GB of RAM.The Vernee Apollo will also have a 6GB+64GB version.
Apart from this flagship phone, Vernee is also planning to unveil a few phones with huge batteries in Barcelona.
We’re talking about the Thor E, which will arrive bundling a 5,020 mAh and an impressive 8.2mm profile. The Thor Plus is going to be even more executing – it’s going to have a massive 6,050 mAh power hours and 7.9mm thickness.
For the time being, that’s all we can tell you about Vernee’s new smartphones, but we’re find more about them as MWC 2017 will be unfolding in a few weeks.
Remember that in January, Verizon launched its 5GB for $55 data plan, claiming most customers don’t use more than 5GB of data per month.
Well it seems, Big Red suddenly realized some of its costumers do want to have the option of choosing an unlimited data plan. So it has spurted out a plan to cater to the needs of this user segment.
Beginning February 13, customers can jump onboard the Verizon Unlimited plan, which as the name suggests brings unlimited data for tablets and laptops. The plan costs $80 per line, but those with four lines will be able to grab it for $45/month (both options require you have Auto Pay enabled). Subscribers can add a smartwatch (LG Watch Sport, Wear24 or Samsung Gear S3) for an additional $5/month.
With Verizon Unlimited customers will be able to grab HD(1080p) video streaming, Mobile Hotspot, calling and texting to Mexico and Canada and up to 500MB/day of 4G Lte roaming in Mexico and Canada.
The new plan bundles 10GB at 4G LTE speeds, after which you’ll be downgraded to 3G speeds. Verizon also notes that:
“To ensure a quality experience for all customers, after 22 GB of data usage on a line during any billing cycle we may prioritize usage behind other customers in the event of network congestion.”
Customers who find they don’t need unlimited data still have at their disposal the S,M,L data plans, as well as the newer 5GB one.
Back in January, Sprint announced an unlimited data plan for only $50 a month. Adding a second line would cost users $90, while lines 3-5 are on the carrier. But unlike Verizon’s plan that offers 1080p video streaming, Sprint’s includes video streaming at 480p+ resolution.
Verizon’s plan is $5 more expensive that T-Mobile’s alternative (for a family of four) which offers 480p video streaming.
I have to confess, this is more or less my first experience with a LeEco device – I hadn’t even heard of the company prior to opening the package.
Bad Dono.
Imagine my surprise when I cut the tape, lifted the lid, and saw this beast:
Don’t mind the reflection.
In fact, my first words to Matty when I opened the thing up were “Whoa. It’s sexy.”
Told you.
But, as usual, I digress – with more pictures than usual. What follows is my genuine and generally-uncensored (sorry, mom), impressions of LeEco’s Le S3.
Appearance-wise, the LeS3 reminds me of the bastard child of a Pixel and an iPhone 7. It inherits the Type-C USB port, softkeys, rear-fingerprint reader, and Android OS from the former, but the massive vertical bezel, stereo speakers on the bottom, absent 3.5mm jack, and UI-styling of the latter. It’s a bit of a conundrum when it comes to built quality. The aluminum frame, prominent buttons, notably-absent horizontal bezel and subtly concealed softkeys (built into the lower bezel) all give the impression of solid, premium build…
Tangent alert: Okay. Look. I love the softkeys. They’re great. They have little subtle vibrations, nice soft lighting, and they’re pretty responsive. But what the hell, LeEco. You switched the Back key and the Recents key. Just look:
Just. Look.
/tangent.
Deep breath.
…But even after a week’s use as my daily driver, I still feel like I’m gonna break the thing. While this may be a purely psychological reaction rooted in the fact that I 1) broke a Nexus 6P recently, and 2) always keep my phone snugly wrapped in a Spigen case, or perhaps because it weighs only 153 grams (for comparison, my Nexus 6P weighs almost an ounce more, at 178g). However, my madness does have some method to back it up, as I’ve noticed that in the short time I’ve had it, random scratches have been showing up on the screen – something that never happens to my Nexus 6P.
“But Donovan!” Some of you may decry, “You’re supposed to use a screen protector, you big dummy!” And while that may be true, I never have on my 6P (perhaps the reason I broke it) and never will. So there. Point is, for a phone that advertises Gorilla Glass 3, it sure does scratch easily.
Tl;dr: Feels great in the hand. Looks sexy. Nice blend of iPhone and Pixel styling. May or may not be fragile af, depending on your level of trust in Donovan’s psyche.
Screen
Despite the aforementioned scratch-happy glass, the Le S3’s IPS LCD display is impressive for a $250 phone. The display isn’t AMOLED, but it’s a crisp 1080p – more than adequate on a 5.5″ screen, despite what display snobs will insist – and the colors are vibrant. Interestingly – and impressively – EUI has a display tweak built into it that allows you to adjust the hue and saturation of the display based in your taste, including a Night Mode that reduces the strain on your eyes.
My only real gripe with the display could also be a build-related one; the lack of a side bezel means that touching the side edges of the screen is inevitable, occasionally resulting in unintentional screen taps.
Tl;dr: Totally adequate screen, especially for the price.
While the Le S3 will never be confused for a powerhouse, it’s more than adequate for most users and for most games. Its Snapdragon 652 and 3GB RAM ensure that the experience is rarely sluggish – though I did notice that, on rare occasion, there was a slight input delay, most often in the stock keyboard. I suspect this may be a software issue, rather than any problem with the hardware. My only real beef with the specs here is that, while it comes stock with 32gb of internal storage, there’s no MicroSD slot. Sad day.
I tested the Le S3 using Antutu – which while imperfect, as all benchmarks are, establishes a numerical value of the phone’s 3D graphics capabilities. The Le S3’s Antutu Benchmark came out to 83333 – roughly the equivalent of an Huawei Honor 8, which is solid. I also measured the Le S3’s performance using 3DMark, with a result of 879 – a little better than the new Samsung Galaxy A9, and a little worse than the Huawei Honor 8. Not bad at all, given the $250 – $200 on a good day – price tag.
Tl;dr: Damned fine performance for a budget phone. Blows the Moto G4 out of the water.
For a budget phone, the Le S3 has a surprising number of number of modern features. Usually, in an effort to keep the cost of manufacturing low, companies will use lower end or older generation components – not so, in this case. The Le S3 comes stock with a Type-C USB port, back-mounted fingerprint sensor, Dolby Atmos sound, an IR blaster (!), Bluetooth 4.1, WiFi using the modern 802.11ac standard, and dual SIM slots. All of these are amenities you’d expect to find on a flagship phone, not a little budget badass (to wit, the Moto G4 doesn’t have a single one of those features – at least, not in those versions). Most of these components are pretty standard so I won’t waste your time going through them one-by-one, but here are a few thoughts and/or observations on a couple.
The IR blaster, while a ridiculously cool (and weirdly rare) feature to have, is simply too limited on this device. It only works with the pre-installed application (which is perfectly adequate), and not with any other third party IR app I tried (AnyMote, Sure, and Mi Remote all failed to detect the blaster itself.)
Not only does the Le S3 have a Type-C USB port, it also supports QuickCharge 3 – that’s a game-changer for people using the right charger.
The Dolby Atmos sound is good, but not great. The sound quality is creal and crisp as far as cellphone speakers go, but the volume won’t blow anyone’s socks off.
Tl;dr: Premium features in a cheap frame. IR blaster is a unique touch.
Battery Life
After using the Le S3 as my daily driver for a week, I can say I’ve been really impressed with the battery life. Even with the notoriously power-hungry Facebook app sapping battery in the background, the Le S3 routinely lasted a day and matched my Nexus 6P. Granted, this was probably helped by the fact that the Le S3 runs a lower-powered Snapdragon model and runs a smaller, less dense screen, but even still. Any phone I can get a day out of without having to stop and recharge is a mark in the Win column in my book.
Tl;dr: Solid, consistently day-long battery life, even on moderate usage.
On paper, the Le S3 has a solid camera set up – a 16mp back shooter and an 8mp selfie cam. But I’m gonna be frank here; I was disappointed. This shouldn’t be surprising given the price of the phone, but the rest of the phone’s performance had been such a pleasant surprise up to that point that I dared to hope. Unfortunately, those hopes came crashing back to earth as reality set in – the camera is not great. Here are a couple samples – starring Dexter the Kitten – that showcase the mediocrity of it.
In fairness, the camera app included in EUI is relatively robust, with plenty of options, including Slow-Motion, Panoramic, a wide variety of built-in filters, HDR, timer, and even white balance. It should be noted that for the same price as this phone, though, the Honor 6X includes a dual lens setup similar to the iPhone 7, which should be more common in the future – meanwhile the Le S3 is still rocking a boring single lens.
Software
Like the Le S3’s hardware, and like so many Chinese manufacturers, EUI has attempted to take Google’s OS and throw in some Apple flavor. EUI’s default launcher is distinctly iOS-like, with no app drawer to speak of. EUI runs on Android 6.0, which while not bad, is definitely a version behind. It runs like a blend of iOS’s launcher and the Google Now Launcher, with some of LeEco’s own apps thrown in for good measure.
The recents screen.
The Recents screen is perhaps the most interesting part of the UI, combining the Quick Settings normally located in the Notification Shade of Android with the Recently used apps page. This makes most of the Quick Settings available with a single touch, and better uses the screen real estate when viewing the recent apps. Really clever stuff.
There are a few pieces of bloat on the phone: many of the standard apps, including Email and Messaging, are all EUI instead of Google, for example. In addition, LeEco has taken it upon itself to use a self-branded replacement for Google Now – it’s even one swipe away on the home screen – called LeView, which compiles interesting headlines for your consumption. Among the other bloatware apps are Live (a sort of video curation service that permanently sits in the default launcher’s dock), LeVidi, My LeEco (to manage your LeEco account), LE, Compass, and the IR App – honestly not bad, as far as bloatware goes. At least the Yahoo app it comes pre-installed with can be removed with no trouble.
Tl;dr: iOS meets Android 6.0 with a bit of bloatware and a fancy Recents screen.
Value
At $250 ($200 on a good day), the LeS3 is a similar value to that of the Honor 6X – though the 6X is definitely a stronger phone, specification-wise. It blows the Moto G4 Plus right out of the water.
Oscar Wilde once said “Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.” If you have ever wanted to see this statement in action, look no further than the Whisper app. Whisper allows you to post messages completely anonymously into a sea of other anonymous people both nearby and worldwide. It’s an intriguing concept for sure, but does it deliver a worthwhile experience? Let’s dive in.
Posts range from funny to sweet, sad to enraged. Almost anything goes.
The Setup
Whisper has you set up a profile when you first begin. Now, this is unlike any other profile setup I’ve seen before because it’s 4 questions long.
Username
Gender
Age Range
Location
Location is set by location services on your phone. Usernames have no restrictions, even allowing you to keep it blank, and multiple people are allowed to use the same username, so in my attempt to stay anonymous, my use of the username “anonymous” completely blends in with the hundreds of others who use it too. Gender is optional, age range is optional. Location I have heard can be disabled but I couldn’t find a way, so I simply denied it permission to location services so my location is just set as “somewhere”. Jumping into settings allows you to set notifications preferences. That’s all there is to it. No pictures to set, you’re not locked into giving your e-mail address, and your username or any settings can be changed on a whim.
Everything is locked down with a secret pin, which when entered takes you to…
Overview
The app starts off with a “Most Popular” page, which is a great jumping off point. All posts that make it to this main page have hundreds of thousands of likes and comments. Posts here range from posts that will make you lose faith in humanity and redeem your faith again, stories of random acts of kindness to love lost, and everything in between. One swipe to the left will show you various groups based on both location and general interests where people can make posts about specific subjects. If your location is set, one swipe to the right of the main screen will let you see all posts that are nearby your location starting with the most recent. Finally, there is an “All” option to the right of local that, as you guessed it, shows all posts from everywhere.
Writing posts is not only easy, but it’s kind of fun too. Hitting the big + button near the bottom of the screen brings up a text box that lets you write your post. Once you write something, Whisper then reads your post and searches for a background picture or short looping video that matches your post. In my experience, the words that it picks to search for pictures with isn’t always the subject of the post, so sometimes the pictures it tries to have you pick from are a little random, but there is a place for you to enter your own search terms and select from a large library, or you can upload your own images. All your posts are saved on the app so you can look at all you’ve posted but it’s all locked under a pin that you set so everything is secure from private eyes, even if they have your phone.
…all my private chats!
Being Social
There’s a chat built right into the app so you are able to either reply directly to posts or if things are going to become more personal (or intimate) you are able to start one on one chats with people. It’s in these chats that your gender and age are revealed if set, so that’s something to keep in mind if you’re worried about people knowing this information. There are an equal number of users that reveal info and that keep it all private so it’s easy.
The Ugly
There are loads of posts by guys who only want to chat with women (which is fine), some who want to only dirty chat with women (which is a little creepy), and some who want to cheat on their spouses and/or pay for pictures and sexual acts (eww). Obviously, these kinds of things all depend on which direction your moral compass points, but for me personal, I was not at all a fan of these posts. Fortunately, there are about a hundred posts for every one or two of these, but with dedicated groups for these posts, they definitely do exist.
A Soft Spot for People
With the ability to be anonymous, you get people posting some of their darkest secrets and insecurities. Occationally you’ll run across a post discussing issues such as suicide. Obviously this is a very serious issue, and the team at Whisper handles this like a champ. If a post could be considered of a deeply depressed or suicidal in tone, the app will direct people to a collection of people to listen or professional help. I’ve run across several posts where people have thanked Whisper for reaching out and have credited the app with saving their lives because they were very serious about their intentions and being able to get the help they need changed their lives. It’s a brilliant feature and has literally changed lives.
Conclusion
I’ve been a user of Whisper for about 6 months now, and I’ve got to admit that it’s quite the guilty pleasure for me. You’ll find posts that are happy, sad, angry, excited, and everything in between. Set your options just right and post literally anything on your mind. It can be a lot of fun and a liberating experience where you can be free to speak your mind about anything to anyone on there. I highly recommend this app as one to at least play with for a week, and you might find that it becomes a daily addiction.
T-Mobile today announced a number of promotions for its customers which can be used over the next few weeks. The deals see the return of pizza as part of the T-Mobile Tuesdays. In fact, the latest deals are all part of a Valentine’s Day themed bundle of giveaways.
According to T-Mobile, all customers enrolled in the T-Mobile Tuesdays rewards program will receive a free pizza from Papa John’s. Moreover, they’ll also receive a coupon good for 25 percent off a regular menu item from the restaurant. The free one can arrive on any of the next four Tuesdays while the coupon will be good on the others.
Come Valentine’s Day, Tuesday, February 14, T-Mobile is offering a free Lyft ride up to $15 value. Additionally, subscribers can have a free movie rental through FandangoNOW.
…Have a romantic night in with a movie, or go out on the town and let someone else worry about the driving. On top of that, two people will win an epic party room makeover, complete with a new TV, sound system AND a Papa John’s pizza party!
Pizza is one of the most popular items in the T-Mobile Tuesday promotion, says T-Mobile. Having kicked off last summer, the app has been downloaded more than 11 million times with more than 6 million customers accepting some 30 million gifts.
Want to impress your significant other with a tech gift this Valentine’s? HTC has your back. The Taiwanese device maker has just announced it is launching 7 Days of Sappiness to help users find their “phone true love”.
Starting at Friday, February 10 at 8am Pacific until February 17, HTC fans will be treated with a host of promotions on smartphones and accessories. What’s more, HTC is throwing in free shipping, free device protection and an extra Valentine Day’s gift. Get ready to receive a notepad or a travel water mug. Oh and a few lucky folks will even be awarded free power chargers & phones too.
Here are some of the “sickening sweet” deals HTC is offering this February:
HTC 10 – $549 ($150 off)
HTC One A9 – $299 ($200 off)
HTC One M9 – $399 ($250 off)
JBL Reflect Aware C headphones – 50% off
All other accessories – $50 off with purchase of $100 or more
What’s very cool is that HTC is also offering the option to pick up the HTC 10 and HTC One A9 in shades of red – thus matching the holiday spirit.
Apart from launching promotions, HTC is reportedly busy partnering up with Verizon with the purpose of testing an elusive Snapdragon 835 flagship.
After the HTC U Ultra which runs on the Snapdragon 821, the Taiwanese device maker is planning to launch a second flagship in 2017, this time with support for the Snapdragon 835.
When you think of flagship smartphones you probably tend to associate them with high price tags ranging from $600 or $700 and beyond. But in recent years’ things have started to change. There’s an interesting new category on the block – the so called “affordable flagships” – phones sold for around $400 that come equipped with very-close-to flagship specs. And they are getting a lot of attention.
So what follows we are going to take a closer look at two of the best models on the cheap flagship market – ZTE Axon 7 and OnePlus 3T – and see how they compare against each other.
Display
5.5-inch AMOLED display with 1440 x 2560 resolution vs 5.5-inch optic AMOLED display with 1080 x 1920 resolution
538ppi vs 401ppi
The ZTE Axon 7 features a true flagship display with advanced resolution just like the Pixel XL. By contrast the OnePlus 3T features only 1080p resolution. Given that both phones come equipped with a 5.5-inch panel, the Axon 7’s is bound to be crisper and more detailed. The ZTE Axon 7 also features skinner bezels on top and on the bottom (but spacious enough to house the speaker grills).
Furthermore, the Axon 7 doesn’t come with a physical home button, while the OnePlus 3T does.
Computing power
Snapdragon 820 vs Snapdragon 821
Adreno 530 vs Adreno 530
4GB of RAM vs 6GB of RAM
The OnePlus 3T takes advantage of Qualcomm’s newer Snapdragon 821, while the Axon 7 is supported by a Snapdragon 820. The Snapdragon 820 takes advantage of four custom made Kyro cores divided into two different clusters – the first runs at max clock speed of 2.15GHz while the other duo dedicated to power efficiency can run up to 1.6GHz.
The Snapdragon 821 is also a quad-core affair, with the performance cores running at up to 2.4GHz, while the battery saving cores max out at 2.0GHz. Basically the Snapdragon 821 offers a 10% increase in performance – so you should find the OnePlus 3T to be a bit snappier, especially since it boasts 6GB of RAM too. However, both affordable flagships will be able to handle most of the tasks you throw at them without problem.
Cameras
20MP/8MP vs 16MP/16MP
The ZTE Axon 7 features a main 20MP camera with f/1.8 phase detection autofocus, optical image stabilization, dual-LED (dual tone) flash plus an 8MP selfie snapper.
As we found in our review of the ZTE Axon 7 the phone is capable of taking some exquisite pictures day light, however it does tend to struggle in low lighting environments:
“The phone’s camera does struggle at night; much more than other high-end phones I’ve used. When capturing our school’s library at night, the lights are easily seen, but not much else even with HDR mode enabled. Detail on the townhouses shown above aren’t very impressive either, and the lights are way overexposed.”
The OnePlus 3T has a 16MP main camera with f/2.0, phase detection autofocus, optical image stabilization, LED flash and a more advanced 16MP selfie camera – which is going to be the delight of selfie lovers everywhere.
Software
Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow vs Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow
Even if both phones shipped out with Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow out of the box, owners can update them to Android 7.0 Nougat. Actually the Nougat update for the Axon 7 started rolling out not so long ago and brought Daydream View headset support along with it (something that the OnePlus 3T doesn’t have).
ZTE’s own UI skin does come with a few particularities of its own, just like OxygenOS. For example, on the ZTE Axon 7 the pull-down notification bar and quick settings change color with the wallpaper. There’s also the Mi-POP – a software navigation button that can be dragged around the screen in case you don’t want to make use of the capacitive keys.
As for the software onboard the OnePlus 3T, it lets you do things like drawn an “O” to launch the camera or customize notification colors.
Battery
3,250 mAh vs 3,400 mAh
Both phones feature non-removable batteries, but the OnePlus 3T has a larger one. This in combination with the less demanding 1080p display will probably ensure the OnePlus 3T will have a longer life than the ZTE Axon 7.
In our review of the Axon 7 we found the phone was able to last through a day on a single charge on moderate to heavy use.
We also ranked the Axon 7 lower than the OnePlus 3 (which has a 3,000 mAh battery), so the OnePlus 3T will certainly fair out better than any of the two.
Other features
64GB of internal storage vs 64GB/128GB of internal storage
The OnePlus 3T does offer two storage options, but it does not come with a microSD card slot. In contrast the ZTE Axon 7 does offer the services of a microSD card which allows for memory expansion up to 256GB.
Both the Axon 7 and OnePlus 3T feature USB Type-C ports and fingerprint sensors. The one on the Axon 7 is one the back while the OnePlus 3T’s lives up front.
Value
$399 vs $439
As you can see, the Axon 7 is a bit cheaper, but the difference isn’t too grand. Customers might be inclined to get the Axon 7 because it offers better resolution, a more advanced main camera, a microSD card slot and Google Daydream View support. However, the OnePlus 3T features a newer Snapdragon 821 processor and more RAM. It also has a larger battery and a better selfie snapper.
Sprint today announced a new promotion which gives customers up to five lines of service for $90 per month. The plan includes unlimited talk, text, and data.
As one might suspect, this is a limited-time offering; the promotional rate only lasts a little over one year. If interested, here’s how one goes about taking advantage of the plan. It’s really quite simple, actually.
Sign up for Unlimited Data, Talk and Text with Sprint, with AutoPay
Add a second line and pay $90/month total for two lines
Receive lines three, four and five for FREE
The savings can be had through March 31, 2018 at which point customers pay the additional $10/month for first line, the second line remains at $40/month and each of lines 3-5 are $30/month – with AutoPay. That’s right, it goes from $90 per month up to $190 per month for a family of five. A three line account would be $130; four lines for $160 per month.
Head to Sprint’s website or head to your local store to learn more.
It usually takes a simple moment of inattention to drop your phone on the floor – the end result being a horribly cracked display. Well Verizon knows many of us have slippery hands, so it is looking to make it easier for us to get over this stressful situation with a new protection plan.
Big Red announced it is now offering same day screen repairs for some of high-profile smartphones. From February 9 to April 9, customers with 3 to 10 phones activated at Verizon can also sign up for the Total Mobile Protection Plan.
The carrier hopes people will be willing to pay an extra buck, to bypass the hassle of having to deal with shipping out your cracked device and waiting. Now Verizon is willing to send a technician to your house or you can choose to make a stop on one at Verizon’s 220 repair shops.
The Total Mobile Protection Plan will have to pay $11 a month for a smartphone ($9 for a tablet) but there’s a $79 deductible for more complex procedures like replacing a display.
For $33 Verizon will protect up to 3 devices registered to your account. If you have more than 3 you are not required to register a phone until something actually happens to your device.
The insurance also includes access to the Tech Coach app which connects you to a Verizon Tech Coach. Also, if the repair leaves you without a phone, Verizon will quickly deliver a replacement device, as soon as the next day.
However, there’s a catch you need to be aware of. Same-day replacement service is limited to a few Android devices including the Samsung Galaxy S5, Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S7, as well as the Galaxy Note4 and Note5. The Motorola DROID Turbo and DROID Maxx are also on the list. However, Verizon notes that models eligible for Cracked Screen Repair change over time based on device popularity and technician/parts availability.
Total Mobile Protection allows three claims per year and subscribers adding a new or existing device until March 10 will also receive a free Morphie powerBOOST mini battery pack.
So if you are one of the 30% of US smartphone owners that are currently using a cracked or spider-webbed screen (numbers provided by Big Red) you might want to check out Verizon’s Total Mobile Protection Plan.
The Instant Tethering feature is currently rolling out for owners of the phones in question. To get things going, users need to turn on the feat by accessing Settings > Google > Instant Tethering on their phone. By tapping the “Provide data connection” you’ll be able to initiate the host device, while “Get data connection” gets the receiving device ready. Don’t forget to have Bluetooth and Wi-Fi on.
There are a few requirements to consider – the device providing the Internet connection need to be a Pixel, Pixel XL, Nexus 6, Nexus 5X or Nexus 6P running Android 7.1.1 or later. As for the receiving devices, they include all the above phones plus the Nexus 9 and Pixel C tablets. Also they need to run Android 6.0 Marshmallow or later.
Note that both devices need to be signed up into the same Google account, for the setup to actually work. Since tethering will most likely drain battery life, the connection will automatically disconnect after 10 minutes of inactivity.
Apart from sporting a powerful processor, the Apollo 2 is also expected to come bundling 8GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage. This means the Vernee Apollo 2 will be the second phone to be launched with such advanced RAM capacity. 
We’re talking about the Thor E, which will arrive bundling a 5,020 mAh and an impressive 8.2mm profile. The Thor Plus is going to be even more executing – it’s going to have a massive 6,050 mAh power hours and 7.9mm thickness.
For the time being, that’s all we can tell you about Vernee’s new smartphones, but we’re find more about them as 
The new plan bundles 10GB at 4G LTE speeds, after which you’ll be downgraded to 3G speeds. Verizon also notes that:
Back in January, 
Here are some of the “sickening sweet” deals HTC is offering this February:
Apart from launching promotions, HTC is reportedly busy partnering up with 
The 
The OnePlus 3T takes advantage of Qualcomm’s newer Snapdragon 821, while the Axon 7 is supported by a Snapdragon 820. The Snapdragon 820 takes advantage of four custom made Kyro cores divided into two different clusters – the first runs at max clock speed of 2.15GHz while the other duo dedicated to power efficiency can run up to 1.6GHz.
The ZTE Axon 7 features a main 20MP camera with f/1.8 phase detection autofocus, optical image stabilization, dual-LED (dual tone) flash plus an 8MP selfie snapper.
Even if both phones shipped out with Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow out of the box, owners can update them to 
Both phones feature non-removable batteries, but the OnePlus 3T has a larger one. This in combination with the less demanding 1080p display will probably ensure the OnePlus 3T will have a longer life than the ZTE Axon 7.
The OnePlus 3T does offer two storage options, but it does not come with a microSD card slot. In contrast the ZTE Axon 7 does offer the services of a microSD card which allows for memory expansion up to 256GB.
The carrier hopes people will be willing to pay an extra buck, to bypass the hassle of having to deal with shipping out your cracked device and waiting. Now Verizon is willing to send a technician to your house or you can choose to make a stop on one at Verizon’s 220 repair shops.
The Total Mobile Protection Plan will have to pay $11 a month for a smartphone ($9 for a tablet) but there’s a $79 deductible for more complex procedures like replacing a display.
However, there’s a catch you need to be aware of. Same-day replacement service is limited to a few Android devices including the Samsung Galaxy S5, Galaxy S6 and 
Total Mobile Protection allows three claims per year and subscribers adding a new or existing device until March 10 will also receive a free Morphie powerBOOST mini battery pack.